CONFERENCE BREAKDOWNS: ACC | Big Ten | SEC | Pac-12 | Big 12

The Big 12 Conference again finds itself at the core of more expansion talk. The 20-year-old league is no stranger to realignment, as six schools have come and gone from the Big 12 since the start of the 2011 season.

Here is a closer look at the recruiting of each of these six during the two seasons prior to their move and then the two seasons following their move.

For a program with as much history and prestige as Nebraska, the jump from one major conference to another did not really see any major movement in its recruiting success. Long established in the Big 12, the Cornhuskers finished their last two seasons at No. 23 and No. 16. Making their move into the Big Ten, they started life in the new conference by finishing at No. 26 and No. 17.

Moral of this story is that if your program has a strong, firm foundation such as Nebraska has had and still does, it can adjust to change on the fly successfully.

While Colorado continues to struggle on the field, the move to the Pac-12, along with a coaching change, did give the program a much-needed boost in recruiting during the first two years. After going 8-16 during their final two seasons in the Big 12, the Buffaloes fired Dan Hawkins and hired Jon Embree. While the Embree hire did not work out, as he was fired after only two seasons, the Buffaloes did reel in the No. 37 and No. 66 classes in the country in their first two seasons in the Pac-12, after having the No. 71 and No. 81 classes in their final two years in the Big 12.

This recruiting surge from the conference move did not continue though, as Embree was fired and the losses have continued to accumulate on the field.

Texas A&M is the program that has gained the most noticeable recruiting advantage since it made the move from the Big 12 to the SEC for the 2012 season. During their last two seasons in the Big 12, the Aggies finished with the No. 28 and No. 15 classes in the country. The move to the SEC has brought their recruiting success to an even higher level. Their first recruiting class after the 2012 season saw the Aggies finish at No. 11 and the 2014 class finished at No. 6.

These two classes brought recruits such as Myles Garrett, Armani Watts, Ricky Seals-Jones and Kameron Miles, along with Kyle Allen, who has since transferred to Houston. The draw of playing in the SEC is a major one for top recruits, and with the Aggies being the only Texas program in the conference, it gave them a unique advantage over a number of programs they compete head-to-head against in recruiting.

A school that saw its recruiting improve when entering the Big 12 was West Virginia. This could be partially attributed to WVU leaving the Big East, which was a conference that was extremely unstable at that point. West Virginia was looking for a new home, and the Big 12 provided exactly what it needed at that point. Whatever the reason for the recruiting surge, the Mountaineers brought in the No. 49 and No. 50 classes in the country during their final two seasons in the Big East and then started life in the Big 12 by landing the No. 27 and No. 40 classes.

While the move to the Big 12 did not see a huge influx of recruits from that region, it did stabilize and eventually strengthen the program, which should help recruiting for years to come.

The SEC move did not benefit Missouri much in recruiting, as it did Texas A&M. Coming from a state that does not produce many top-level recruits, the Mizzou coaching staff did an admirable job through the years finding kids to fit the system.

Missouri had the No. 50 and No. 32 recruiting classes during its final two seasons in the Big 12 and then the No. 40 and No. 35 recruiting classes in its first two seasons in the SEC. So while the move to the SEC may have helped with several quality three-star recruits, it did not do enough to pull in the high-profile four- and five-stars to Columbia.

After dominating the Mountain West Conference for the better part of the previous decade, TCU made the move to the stronger Big 12 in 2012. One would assume that this would further strengthen the Horned Frogs’ recruiting classes, but in actuality their success diminished. After finishing off their MWC years with the No. 27 and No. 38 classes in the country, TCU started off in the Big 12 with the No. 30 and No. 52 classes.

Two subpar years on the field have been followed by a 23-3 record over the last two seasons, and as a result TCU reeled in the No. 20 class in 2016. So while it may have taken the Horned Frogs a couple of seasons to get adjusted to their new neighborhood, they now seem in prime position to take advantage of their Big 12 environment.